Mongolians in India
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (500 (2009)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kalimpong · Mundgod | |
| Languages | |
| Mongolian · Tibetan · English · Sanskrit | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism |
There is a small Mongolian community in India, comprising mostly Buddhist monks and scholars as well as international students from Mongolia.
Mongolians who were originally studying in Tibet in the 1950s followed the Tibetans and fled to India after the 1950 invasion of Tibet and the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Many of them settled in Kalimpong, West Bengal. The Dilowa Hutukhtu maintained contact with them. American scholar Owen Lattimore suggested to then-Defence Minister of India Krishna Menon that they could be valuable sources of intelligence against the People's Republic of China about conditions in Tibet.
Mongolian scholars from Tibet made valuable contributions in Indian academia; for example, Lama Chimpa assisted George de Roerich in compiling a Russian-Sanskrit dictionary. Other noted Mongolian scholars in India from this era include Da-Lama, Rigzin Wangpo, Geshe Wanggyal, Geshe Kaldan, and Geshe Agwang Nima; some remained in Kalimpong, while others left the district to teach at famous universities including the Banaras Hindu University and the University of Delhi. Most continued as monks, but some returned to secular life, married, and had children. Tohtoh, one such young man, studied at the Central Tibetan School in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand before emigrating to the United States, where he was involved in founding the Mongol-American Cultural Association.
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